Concurrent with the explosive growth of the Internet and email, instant messaging systems have emerged as a favored mode of communication that presents many advantages. Among these are the capability of sending a text message via the internet to one or more other individuals at a speed and with an ease that makes email seem unwieldy and inefficient by comparison. Examples of instant messaging abound; some Internet providers have virtually made such systems part of their core identity. AOL in particular is well known for systems that permit a user to immediately ascertain, upon logging on, whether one or more individuals on a restricted list, or “group”, are also online. Other known systems include those provided by Sametime Connect, Yahoo!, ICQ and others.
Generally, in conventional instant messaging systems, each user who is connected at a given time has a “status” that is known to other users in a group. At times, it may become necessary for a given user to leave the vicinity of his or her computer. Accordingly, there is often provided the option for a user to indicate an “away status”; that is, by selecting such a status option, a user is able to indicate to other users in the group that he or she is “away” from the computer and thus not available for communication. This may also have automatic ramifications, such as ensuring that no messages are directed to users who have indicated away status.
An associated disadvantage with such an arrangement is that should a user leave the vicinity of his or her computer without changing status to “away” (or an analogous status), other users in the group will erroneously believe that he or she is actually there. As a result, messages will be sent to the departed user in the expectation of receiving replies, and when no replies are received, it will not be clear as to what the status of the departed user actually is or whether there might be a network problem, etc.
Several solutions have been proposed for automatically prompting an indication of away status. One solution is to automatically initiate away status when a screen saver is activated, presumably in response to computer inactivity. This presents at least two problems: (1) there will likely be a time delay between the time that the user in question actually leaves the vicinity and the screen saver turns on, thus delaying the indication of away status and thus potentially confusing other users during that interim time; and (2) the user could actually be in the vicinity and ready and willing to reply to messages, but might not necessarily be active on the computer system itself, thus inviting the potential for a false indication of away status. Other solutions proposed over the years have been similarly problematic and ineffective.
Accordingly, a need has been recognized in connection with providing an automatic indicator of away status that does not lend itself to time lags and other difficulties that have been experienced heretofore.